But the next morning, the skies turned blue, just in time for slopestyle finals. "The night before I had decided to switch up my rail line, and I got that dialed right away," Williams writes. "I began stomping my run time after time."

At X Games Aspen last January, Williams failed to advance to finals. And then two months later in Tignes, X Games Aspen 2013 medalists Nick Goepper, Henrik Harlaut and James Woods all failed to advance from the elimination round, leaving the field wide open for a newcomer to medal.

Williams won gold on his second run in Tignes, which included a nosebutter 450, switch frontside 270 to switch tail butter 450, left 900 tail grab and back-to-back double cork 1080s, which earned him a top score of 94.33.

"This season, I am hoping to carry that momentum and tackle the comp circuit harder than ever," Williams writes. He will return for another chance at gold when X Games returns to Aspen, Colo., Jan. 23-26.

But the next morning, the skies turned blue, just in time for slopestyle finals. "The night before I had decided to switch up my rail line, and I got that dialed right away," Williams writes. "I began stomping my run time after time."

At X Games Aspen last January, Williams failed to advance to finals. And then two months later in Tignes, X Games Aspen 2013 medalists Nick Goepper, Henrik Harlaut and James Woods all failed to advance from the elimination round, leaving the field wide open for a newcomer to medal.

Williams won gold on his second run in Tignes, which included a nosebutter 450, switch frontside 270 to switch tail butter 450, left 900 tail grab and back-to-back double cork 1080s, which earned him a top score of 94.33.

"This season, I am hoping to carry that momentum and tackle the comp circuit harder than ever," Williams writes. He will return for another chance at gold when X Games returns to Aspen, Colo., Jan. 23-26.

McRae Williams

Brett Wilhelm/ESPN

In March 2013, McRae Williams showed up in Tignes, France, without any luggage and down on his luck at previous contests. By the end of the week, he would walk away with his first X Games gold medal.